In a Saturday column penned for The Hill , the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, Jonathan Turley, criticized the media for not discussing potential corruption in the Biden family.
According to Turley, cable news networks such as MSNBC and CNN have downplayed and dismissed allegations of corruption, ridiculing those who dare question former Vice President Joe Biden’s moral principles as conspiracy theorists.
“The mere mention” of the former vice president’s son, Hunter Biden, by name, “seemingly triggers the vapors among cable TV hosts and their guests,” wrote Turley.
The legal expert pointed out that both cable news networks and Democratic politicians have outright dismissed allegations of corruption, refusing to even consider the possibility of the Bidens being corrupt, and rejecting suggestions that the charges need to be explored.
According to Turley, “raising concerns over Hunter Biden does not mean you are excusing Trump’s actions.”
President Donald Trump has been arguing for weeks that Biden fired Ukraine’s chief prosecutor in order to protect his son. The president’s claim, Turley suggested, is likely false, given that there is no evidence to support it.
However, other questions about the younger Biden’s dealings in Ukraine still loom, the legal expert continued.
Turley went on to explain that Ukraine has long been one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and a place in which American elites — including politicians — have managed to make significant sums of money, essentially selling access to policy makers in Washington.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig, and Democratic powerbroker Tony Podesta have all been implicated in corruption affairs in the eastern European country, according to Turley, who pointed out that Hunter appears to have ties to some of the most controversial Ukrainian oligarchs.
Hunter sat on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, despite the fact that he had no prior experience in the industry, which in and of itself raises red flags, Turley said. The legal expert explained that Mykola Zlochevsky, Ukraine’s former minister of ecology and national resources, sat on the board of Burisma as well, allegedly as a way to facilitate his own corrupt deals.
After listing a number of similarly problematic facts about Hunter’s dealings in Ukraine, Turley went on to ask members of the press to investigate the allegations.
“All of this should be of some interest to the media, which has exhaustively — and rightfully — pursued foreign deals by the Trump family. And there is no reason why the media cannot pursue allegations against both the Trumps and the Bidens,” he concluded.